


His Way of Love

by thawrecka



Category: Nobuta wo Produce
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2008-08-10
Updated: 2008-08-10
Packaged: 2017-11-20 03:48:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,100
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/580983
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thawrecka/pseuds/thawrecka
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Koji deals with the perplexing problems of first love.</p>
            </blockquote>





	His Way of Love

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Love Is](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/14089) by asinful. 



> For the Japanese Drama Remix Exchange 2008.

It was hard starting at a new school. It was hard to start over with no friends, without knowing anything about the teachers and without all those old signs of familiarity - the smell of the wood of his old desk, the comfortable fit of his old uniform.

Koji was trying to be positive about it and see it as a new chance to be much cooler and do much more fun things but it was difficult. It was a lot to face up against and he felt apprehensive as he walked into the school building.

His father had given him a pep talk that morning about the opportunities in starting over in a new school and brother had given him a cooked lunch wrapped in an old cotton towel, that smelt like warmth and home, and was now securely stashed in his bag. At least Koji knew he could count on having that.

 

She was the first thing he later remembered of his first day at school. Her hair was long and shiny like a waterfall and she wore hair clips with butterflies and rainbow hearts on them. Koji thought she was the prettiest girl he had ever seen and fought not to blush. The first time she walked past his seat on the way to her own he'd been entranced by her hair, barely able to stop himself from staring.

She looked really interesting, too. The stickers on her bag were really neat and whenever he watched her talking to her friends she seemed so full of exuberance and exciting stories. He wanted to talk to her and be in on her fascinating life but whenever he tried he couldn't move his feet toward her or open his mouth to speak. He felt so awkward and small. He felt like his stomach would fly out of his body.

Miho was her name and she was really popular and friendly and everyone liked her. She was also kind of mean. The first time he tried to speak to her she stuck out her foot and tripped him. Ever since then she'd done it every morning as he walked into class. Koji wished he could hate her but then she would smile so sweetly at him and his world would turn on its axis again.

 

Koji was slow to make friends so he was a little lonely. The other kids at his new school also seemed fairly slow to accept people. It wasn't like he wasn't like he was being excluded, simply that it was difficult on both sides.

Team projects brought him closer to the other children and so did people asking him for help with class work. Sometimes Miho asked him for help with her school work. He wasn't really sure why - he didn't think he was that good, but it seemed that he'd gained a reputation as reliable in these things.

It wasn't always pleasant. She yelled at him a lot and sometimes swatted at him when things were going badly. She was especially grumpy when it came to things of a mathematical nature. Still, he liked seeing the pleased, almost private smile she made whenever she got things right and started to understand.

 

Koji liked the poster project for class. He was good at creative things, just like his brother, and they were always the most fun. He'd nearly finished his own already before much of the class had even started.

Naomi was one of the girls from class who'd spoken to him a little before and she asked him to help her with her project. She said she wasn't very good with creative things and knew he would be able to help her. Naomi was kind of shy so if she was asking for help she must really need it. Koji didn't want to be the kind of guy who'd let down a girl in need.

Koji felt really positive about it - maybe he could make a friend! - until he looked over to where Miho sat and she immediately threw a balled up piece of paper at him.

With every piece of paper she threw at him his heart hurt a little bit more, until he just wanted to run and hide.

He didn't know what he was doing wrong.

 

Koji only wanted to make her happy and he thought and thought and couldn't think of what he could do to make things better. He couldn't think of why she treated him in that way that only confused him and made him worry.

He fell asleep at night wondering how to fix things, how to make her smile in his direction.

 

The air was full and heavy with the salty, sandy smell of the beach and barbecued fish.

Brother's friend was sitting in the kitchen, gesturing wildly and talking loudly, the way he liked to. Brother's friend had been dropping by a lot. It was strange the way he seemed to have followed them here, a dissonant piece of continuity between their old home and their new. Koji wasn't sure if it was comforting or not but it seemed to make brother happy. At least, it was nice to see them smiling and having fun so often.

Koji wondered if they were talking about girls and whether brother's friend knew anything about girls. They probably knew a lot about girls. They were older - nearly grown up - and good looking and popular so they'd probably had a lot of girlfriends. Koji knew he'd seen Shuji with girls; tall, slender, pretty girls with shiny hair and wistful eyes. Maybe Shuji would know a lot about what to do with girls but Koji wasn't quite sure whether it would be a good idea to ask.

He knew it would definitely be too embarrassing to ask dad. Just the thought of trying to talk about girls with his father made him feel a little bit freaked out.

Instead of asking anyone about anything he went to his room to think. Maybe he'd ask tomorrow.

 

The night he'd finally gotten enough courage to ask, brother's friend had turned up and decided to help.

Somehow, even though they'd given him no advice at all, Koji felt renewed confidence on returning to school. He was looking forward to seeing Miho again. Finally, he thought he understood her a bit more.

He saw her in the classroom. She hid her face when she saw him and Koji thought she may have been blushing. He smiled and took his seat. Finally, he could see the strong light of hope illuminating the rest of the year.


End file.
